Bowling

Jay and I took the kids bowling today. It's not something we have done very often with all three of the kids simply because Mary was too young and never enjoyed it. When Alex was younger he had the sensory issue and a place like a bowling alley would have just shut him down completely. There is a new place here in town called the Oasis Bowl so we decided to check it out. We had a 15 minute wait for a lane so of course we went to check out the arcade games.

I was only able to get a couple of action shots before the battery on my camera died. Mama needs a new camera!! That's why our next stop was Best Buy to look at getting a new and improved digital camera. The choices are endless so I have my research cut out for me. Anyway, here are the pics...

Mary did bowl. She was hesitant at first but can rarely be left out of anything that her siblings seem to be enjoying. Like always, we got a lot of attention because of our pint sized dynamo. I have to admit, she is a cutie!

Guitar Hero

I have become a Guitar Hero widow.

And if that weren't enough, my kids are in on it too. Even Mary. And the saddest of all, when I tried to play, they ALL played better than me!!! I got booed off the stage every time!

Random Thoughts

John gave me copies of pictures that he took of our performance in the Living Tree and the kids' Christmas programs at church. We had such a good time preparing and participating in these programs. It was my second year in the tree, Alex and Liv sang for the second time as well. This year Little Mary joined us! Since the whole family was around when the older two practiced with their choirs, Mary learned all the songs and stood right next to brother and sister during the rehearsals. Patrick (music minister) was kind enough to indulge her and let her stay and even included her in the official program! It was a hoot because she is so tiny she just really stuck out next to all of the older kids.

The actual tree

The Living Tree!

Mary singing away in between

Olivia and Alex.

The kids with the Adult Choir.

Checking out behind the scenes!

It was fun, fun, fun. And the best part was that my dad came to see both performances! I was very happy to see him the first night and pleasantly surprised to see him again the next night. It was great.

The next week the kids had their Christmas program. Once again Mary sang with the big kids. She also sang with her own choir, the Cherub Choir, and recited her little poem! She has never actually moved her lips on stage before the night of the Living Tree, much less has she ever spoken into a microphone on stage! It was a big night for our little one!! We were very proud. We were just as proud of Alex, who sang and recited a poem as well, and of Olivia, who sang and acted in a skit. She was very, very good! A budding actress, perhaps? Hmmmmm......

The kids all did a wonderful job. Unfortunately, this was not the end of their flurry of Christmas activities...the next night, Liv had a school choir performance and then the school Christmas parties began. Even though it was difficult to juggle all the schedules and make it to all the places we had to be, it was so worth it to see their joy and their enthusiasm at each performance.

Merry Christmas!

It was a very long day but I have to say that it was one absolutely jam packed with an abundance of blessings. I really dislike the planning part - coordinating holiday schedules with so many people, the shopping, the drawing of names, the food prep, the disgruntled relatives who don't like the plans that have been made but who have never, ever stepped up to actually host a family gathering, etc. The list is endless. At about 8:15am is was clear that it was all worth it. That is what time we headed downstairs to see if Santa had indeed come to visit. The look on those babies' faces was priceless! Santa outdid himself and made sure that each kid had a very blessed day! The excitement and enthusiasm was contagious. Well done Mr. Claus!

We had a pancake breakfast prepared on my new family sized griddle. It was wonderful to actually cook 8 pancakes at a time instead of the old fashioned way - one at a time. Breakfast was ready in no time. There was a quick clean up, I threw the ingredients of my soup entrée into the crock pot, and we all got showered and dressed to await the rest of our family. Ipods were charged, lego sets were put together, Leapsters were played with - it was a busy time! Uncle Eduardo and Paul were the first to arrive. Dad and Aunt Hilda came next - so sorry about the longer than usual drive Dad! Carol and John showed up just as we were about to eat so we ditched that and opened some more presents first. It worked out well since Hannah and Kayla were not here yet. More legos, a couple of American Girl dolls, Guitar Hero 3, a new crockpot, more legos....you get the idea. Lunch was Santa Fe soup (Thanks Stacey for the fabulous recipe), chicken nuggets/tenders on a party platter, various appetizers. It was plentiful and delicious. After we ate, guess what? More presents!!! Dream Life, FP3 player, Star Wars book, clothes, easel, cash....lots of loot. It turned out to be a wonderful day! I am thankful for my family that took the time to spend the day with us and I am thankful for all the smiles on kids faces (not just my own) that we saw today. I have to say that it truly was an exceptional Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve at Mimi's and Pawpaw's

Santa was very busy this year!

Some very excited kiddos!

Meet Otis

Jay and I had been tossing around the idea of getting a pet for our kids for a while now. We were leaning towards getting a cat but were still hesitating because with all of the joy of a kitten comes the grief of scratching, vet visits, neurotic kids, and scratching again - this time the furniture. We have nice furniture and don't want it messed up! So one day we were just chatting with some friends at church and he mentioned that they have a cat they are trying to adopt out. Perfect! We heard more about it, went home and talked about it, and decided to adopt Otis. He has been with us one week today and it has been a lot of fun. He is very loving but also likes to have a lot of "alone time". The kids love him. And we love the fact that he is 6 years old, indoor/outdoor (though he seems to be more indoor now), and came with all his shots and lots of food! We especially love that we have a bit of our friends the Skaggs while they are away in Africa for two years. We will always think of them whenever we play with Otis and we'll always be grateful that they trusted us with their very loved family pet.

Meet Otis...

Parties and more parties

We are finally done with all of the kids' holiday parties. Alex had his this past Monday at 9am! Who wants to party at 9am?? Luckily, Monday was the first day of Jay's vacation so he was able to "party" with us.

Today we had Mary's party at 11am and Olivia's at 1pm. Mary's was a lunch and then the kids made gingerbread houses - they loved, loved, loved making them. Who doesn't love frosting and all the candy you can eat? I read a story to them (The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado) and then we had our book exchange. After the presentation of the teachers' gifts we rushed out and headed to Liv's party.

Liv's class had pizza and cake - even though they just got back from lunch. I had sent in some sugar cookies which were gone in no time. While they were eating, Mrs. Davis ran a game of Bingo - the kids enjoyed it a lot, especially since there were lots of prizes. Thanks to the room mom who made it all happen! The older the kids get, it seems harder to get parental participation and also to find something they can enjoy in a short amount of time. But bingo fit the bill pretty well. Since the day was just about over, I checked Liv out and we all went home.

Only one more day to go until we are all officially on vacation. Can't wait. We are barely hanging on for the last few days. It has been SO hard to get the kids up and out this week. I know they are tired and anxious for their vacation. I'm with you kiddos!

In the beginning....

In the beginning.....okay, not that beginning. Just the beginning of this blog. So, in the beginning, this blog was a bit bland, needed to be tweaked - a lot, we are just learning the ways of the blogger world. It will get better. For now, it is as it is.

I've been wanting to start this blog for a while. There were so many things to consider. The most important was the name! All the ones we wanted were already taken. So, The Wright Tales it is. We are the Wrights ~ Jay and Maria. We have three amazing kids - Olivia is 10, Alex is 6, and Mary is 4. It goes without saying that we are busy, busy, busy. I am the mom - I try my best to take care of the pack, sometimes I do a better job than others, but for the most part, we are good! Christmas is only eight days away! We have been just crazy with Christmas shows, plays, concerts, parties, and in between there we've been trying to keep up with school, work, and church. We aren't any different than hundreds of other families that surround us. But this is our story. This is our walk. These are our tales!

Stay tuned...